Aragon (ANT), is a framework or development framework focused on facilitating the creation of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO), allowing their quick and easy construction for any project that needs this type of structure.
| Symbol |
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| ANT |
| Logo |
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| Algorithm |
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| ERC-20 (Ethash) |
| Consent |
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| PoW (ETH) |
Ehe Aragon project (ANT), is an open source project that is focused on the creation of a blockchain infrastructure that facilitates the creation of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) for any use intended by its users.
For this, Aragon has created the token Aragon Network Token (ANT), with which the platform grants voting rights to its holders that are used to make decisions about the development of a DAO within Aragon. In a nutshell, Aragon is a DAO building framework. A framework designed to deploy this type of infrastructure quickly and on request. And, whose control is exercised by the ANT token holders.
This transforms Aragon into a unique platform to deploy these types of organizations. And at the same time, it makes Aragon the starting point for many projects seeking funding in a completely new way to realize their goals.
Origin and history of the Aragon project
The story begins in 2016, when Luis Cuende y Jorge Left They decide to join forces and create the Aragon project. This would be a blockchain project that would allow users to manage decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) using blockchain technology. The goal of your idea is, allow the creation of more efficient, decentralized and self-sustainable infrastructures.
To do this, Aragon seeks to create a "digital jurisdiction" governed by stakeholders. Parties that can vote to create or amend laws included in the "Constitution" of the network. The right to vote within this system is decided by the holding of ANT tokens. It is these tokens that allow the operation of this mechanism and that of others within the Aragon network.
In this sense, Aragon is a "Decentralized government project for DAO". A project that has the ability to allow its users the future of the Aragon project, of the DAOs registered in its system. And even solve problems of all kinds by making use of a decentralized court system, all supported by smart contracts within the network Ethereum (ETH), the well-known AragonOS.
Launch of the white paper and the arrival of Ethereum on the mainnet
El white paper end of the project was announced for the 20 2017 of April, making clear the capabilities and purpose of Aragon as a system. However, this would only be the beginning of a long journey. Already with a clearer roadmap, Aragon begins a ICO (Initial Coin Offering) on May 18, 2017. In said ICO, the project managed to accumulate a total of 25 million dollars in ethers in less than 30 minutes. This first impulse was what allowed the project to develop its idea.
By June 2018, the development team was already testing AragonOS, the set of smart contracts that allow Aragon to work. The audit at this point was performed by ConsenSys, making clear the quality of the work that was sought with this project. With the go-ahead from this audit, the Aragon team decided it was time to go mainnet. This is how on October 30, 2018, Aragon 0.6 was launched on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet. This launch would begin the deployment of all the necessary infrastructure that Aragon needed to carry out its objectives.
The arrival of DAO Templates to Aragon
Continuing with its development, in August 2019, ConsenSys carried out a second audit, this time aimed at the DAO creation templates (Aragon DAO Templates), managing to audit another critical part of the system. With the go-ahead for this system, in November 2019, the team announced the launch of Aragon Network CAD and its token ANGEL on the Ethereum mainnet. Thanks to this new launch, Aragon was able to elevate the complete functionalities of its network.
With Aragon Network DAO it was now possible for anyone to create DAOs as they wished within Aragon, enjoying its potential and services.
At the same time, the ANJ token was launched, which was vital for its use within the Aragon Courts, a functionality designed to resolve disputes within the system. The final launch of this system ended its deployment in February 2020.
How does Aragon work?
As we have already indicated, Aragon's role is to allow people who make use of this system the ability to organize around shared values and resources using Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO).
To achieve this, Aragon has created a series of unique functionalities that we will describe:
Aragon Client, your gateway to DAO creation
Aragon Client (now known as Aragon Govern, in V2 of the protocol) is the functionality that allows the creation of DAO within Aragon. The Aragon Client functionality allows creating a DAO in which a user has the option to select multiple templates with governance modules to suit the needs of their community. These templates are the well-known Aragon DAO Templates, and they are generic options that allow you to quickly choose some desired capabilities so that they can be integrated into the DAO that we are creating.
During the setup stage, there are a number of parameters that need to be entered, such as the voting setup. Many of these parameters can be modified later by the DAO token holders. Once the parameters are chosen and the gas rates are paid, the DAO contract is implemented on the Ethereum network and has its own DAO address. The idea of Aragon Client (or Govern) is to facilitate the creation of DAO, allowing a simple to use tool, but powerful and full of options.
In addition to this, Aragon has the ability to allow the creation of custom configuration options, which allows greater flexibility when configuring DAOs. Another important point of this functionality is that it allows the administration and monitoring of DAO statistics. For example, it is easy to see how many participants there are in the system, how many tokens have been entered, who participates more in voting, among other essential points for the good administration of the organization.
Aragon Court, solving problems in a decentralized way
Other functionalities of Aragon is the well-known Aragon Court or Courts of Aragon. The idea at this point is to have a decentralized justice system that serves to resolve disputes within the community and the DAOs that are formed in the system. But not only that, the system also serves to offer incentives to users who are part of it as judges.
First of all, to join Aragon Court, you need to transform ANT tokens into ANJ (Aragon Network Justice) tokens. Currently, for each ANJ token, you must convert a total of 0,0148 ANT. You can also use other tokens like DAI, ETH, and USDC to convert to ANJ. To enter the system you must have at least 10.000 ANJ in possession and then go to the Aragon Court website to choose the cases that you can attend within the system.
A court with a very special purpose
However, you must understand one thing: the Aragon Court does not work like a normal court. Instead, an Aragon Court makes use of the “Rule of Plurality”. That is, an Aragon Court jury does not rule impartially on disputes, but is asked to resolve in the way they expect the plurality of jurors to do so. Aragon Court tries to find what is the subjective truth (that is, the most correct outcome of a dispute) with a Schelling game.
Thus, each time a jury is recruited for a dispute, a portion of its activated tokens are blocked until the dispute is over. To encourage consensus, juries that do not vote in favor of the final ruling have their blocked chips cut off. Jurors who vote in favor of the final ruling are rewarded with dispute fees and ANJ tokens from any jurors who voted for a minority ruling.
To avoid Sybil Attacks (such as a jury having two or more identities within the system) the jurors are weighted regarding their use of ANJ tokens and according to that weighting they are chosen for a specific dispute. At the same time, to prevent a jury with a high level of ANJ token staking from being chosen for various disputes, the system interposes other measures that avoid this vulnerability (iterative appeals, compromise and disclosure votes, and blocked withdrawal periods).
Aragon Network Token (ANT), the economic column of Aragon
The ERC-20 token, Aragon Network Token (ANT) is Aragon's native token. Each ANT token represents a fraction and opportunity to participate in the governance of the Aragon protocol, and of each of the DAOs within it. The system at this point is simple: the more ANT tokens they have under their power, the more voting power they have within the system. Additionally, the issuance of ANT tokens is limited, its maximum being a total of 39.609.524 tokens.
The birth of ANT, as we already mentioned, was thanks to an ICO held on May 18, 2017, which raised a total of 25 million dollars. Since then, ANT has been a token that has sparked some interest, leading to impressive growth in its market capitalization.
The use of ANT tokens, however, is not unique to the platform. For example, you can use ANT to turn them into ANJ (the native token of the Aragon Court) and thus, participate in this system where you can earn rewards as a jury. In addition, you can use ANT to gain power and position within the DAOs created by Aragon, but you can also use your ANT tokens in decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, where you can earn rewards if you become a liquidity provider and thus perform yield farming.
Vocdoni, a decentralized voting protocol
Recently, the Aragon project added to its tools the Vocdoni project, a decentralized voting platform. Vocdoni is a blockchain voting system, decentralized, secure and anonymous, created in order to respect the rules of the GDPR of the European Union on the use of user data.
In addition, Vocdoni is a development platform that also allows the creation of voting systems tailored to your needs, all of this making use of its open development stack and a powerful development API. The idea is to make available a secure, transparent and anonymous voting tool that allows the democratic participation of citizens, workers or whoever needs such a system.
The inclusion of Vocdoni within Aragon complements the offer of options on this platform, but also strengthens the operation of Aragon by including this technology within the possible options for its DAOs.
Aragon Association, sustaining the ecosystem
The Aragón Association is a non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland, and the legal administrator of the Aragón project. This Association was founded in 2018 and is responsible for managing the funds raised in the sale of Aragon tokens. The funds from the token sale were originally raised and managed by the Aragon Insitution MTU, an Estonian-based non-profit entity, and were subsequently transferred to the Aragon Association when the Board of Directors of the Aragon Institution MTU decided that the canton of Zug in Switzerland would be a more suitable jurisdiction.
The Association is directed by the Executive Director, Luis Cuende and supervised by a Board of Directors composed of the co-founders of the Aragon project, Luis Cuende and Jorge Izquierdo.
Aragon has been a proud sponsor and participant in numerous Ethereum and blockchain related events. They have also occasionally supported events outside of these settings to reach out to people in communities that could greatly benefit from using Aragon and its products.
Role of the Aragon Association
All the work of the Association is framed by the well-known Aragon Manifesto, which leads in a summarized way to the following points:
- Creation of open source technology, free and free to allow the creation and management of decentralized organizations.
- Experiment with new governance models that comply with the values of the Aragon Manifesto.
- Creation of a cryptocurrency network for decentralized organizations to prosper (Aragon Network).
- Build a community that defends the values of the Manifesto.
- The use of the proceeds from the sale of tokens to fund teams that defend these values, in order to carry out all the tasks mentioned above.
- Work together with other entities that are committed to supporting decentralized technologies and build the underlying infrastructure necessary for decentralized organizations to flourish.
- Use all of your assets, including proceeds from the sale of tokens, intellectual property, and branding to maintain, disseminate, and defend the above values.
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